arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Henrik Johannesson.
We analyze a quantum spin Hall (QSH) device with a point contact connecting two of its edges. The contact supports a net spin tunneling current that can be probed experimentally via a two-terminal resistance measurement. We find that the low-bias tunneling current and the differential conductance exhibit scaling with voltage and temperature that depend nonlinearly on the strength of the electron-electron interaction.
We propose a realization of the two-impurity Anderson model in a double quantum-dot device. When charge transfer between the dots is suppressed the system exhibits a quantum phase transition, controlled by a surface of non-Fermi liquid fixed points parameterized by the charge valences of the dots. Employing conformal field theory techniques, we identify the scaling exponents that govern transport and thermodynamics close to criticality. We also determine the dynamical exponents that set the time scale for buildup of the non-Fermi liquid state after the system is suddenly shifted into the critical region, e.g. by a change of a nearby gate voltage.
The spin-incoherent regime of one-dimensional electrons has recently been explored using the Bethe ansatz and a bosonized path integral approach, revealing that the spin incoherence dramatically influences the correlations of charge excitations. We here introduce a bosonization scheme for strongly interacting electrons, allowing us to generalize the description to account for the presence of an open boundary. By calculating the single-electron Green's function we find that the charge sector power-law scaling is highly sensitive to the boundary. Our result allows for a detailed description of the crossover between boundary and bulk regimes. We predict that scanning tunneling microscopy on a spin-incoherent system will pick up oscillations in the differential tunneling conductance as a function of the applied voltage $V$ at "intermediate" distances $x$ from a real or a dynamically generated boundary. The wavelength of the oscillations, $πv_c/x$, probes the speed $v_c$ of the charge excitations, and therefore the strength of the electron-electron interaction.
We consider an integrable model of a one-dimensional mesoscopic ring with the conduction electrons coupled by a spin exchange to a magnetic impurity. A symmetry analysis based on a Bethe Ansatz solution of the model reveals that the current is insensitive to the presence of the impurity. We argue that this is true for any integrable impurity-electron interaction, independent of choice of physical parameters or couplings. We propose a simple physical picture of how the persistent current gets protected by integrability.
We propose a design for a one-dimensional quantum box device where the charge fluctuations are described by an anisotropic two-channel Kondo model. The device consists of a quantum box in the Coulomb blockade regime, weakly coupled to a quantum wire by a single-mode point contact. The electron correlations in the wire produce strong back scattering at the contact, significantly increasing the Kondo temperature as compared to the case of non-interacting electrons. By employing boundary conformal field theory techniques we show that the differential capacitance of the box exhibits manifest two-channel Kondo scaling with temperature and gate voltage, uncontaminated by the one-dimensional electron correlations. We discuss the prospect to experimentally access the Kondo regime with this type of device.
We calculate the finite-temperature local spectral weight (LSW) of a Luttinger liquid with an "open" (hard wall) boundary. Close to the boundary the LSW exhibits characteristic oscillations indicative of spin-charge separation. The line shape of the LSW is also found to have a Fano-like asymmetry, a feature originating from the interplay between electron-electron interaction and scattering off the boundary. Our results can be used to predict how edges and impurities influence scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) of one-dimensional electron systems at low temperatures and voltage bias. Applications to STM on single-walled carbon nanotubes are discussed.
We show that the single-site entanglement of a generic spin-1/2 fermionic lattice system can be used as a reliable marker of a finite-order quantum phase transition, given certain provisos. We discuss the information contained in the single-site entanglement measure, and provide illustrations from the Mott-Hubbard metal-insulator transitions of the one-dimensional Hubbard model, and the Hubbard model with long-range hopping.
We derive exact expressions for the local entanglement entropy E in the ground state of the one-dimensional Hubbard model at a quantum phase transition driven by a change in magnetic field h or chemical potential u. The leading divergences of dE/dh and dE/du are shown to be directly related to those of the zero-temperature spin and charge susceptibilities. Logarithmic corrections to scaling signal a change in the number of local states accessible to the system as it undergoes the transition.
We suggest an experiment to study Luttinger liquid behavior in a one-dimensional nanostructure, avoiding the usual complications associated with transport measurements. The proposed setup consists of a quantum box, biased by a gate voltage, and side-coupled to a quantum wire by a point contact. Close to the degeneracy points of the Coulomb blockaded box, and in the presence of a magnetic field sufficiently strong to spin polarize the electrons, the setup can be described as a Luttinger liquid interacting with an effective Kondo impurity. Using exact nonperturbative techniques we predict that the differential capacitance of the box will exhibit distinctive Luttinger liquid scaling with temperature and gate voltage.
We study a two-species reaction-diffusion model where A+A->0, A+B->0 and B+B->0, with annihilation rates lambda0, delta0 > lambda0 and lambda0, respectively. The initial particle configuration is taken to be randomly mixed with mean densities nA(0) > nB(0), and with the two species A and B diffusing with the same diffusion constant. A field-theoretic renormalization group analysis suggests that, contrary to expectation, the large-time density of the minority species decays at the same rate as the majority when d<=2. Monte Carlo data supports the field theory prediction in d=1, while in d=2 the logarithmically slow convergence to the large-time asymptotics makes a numerical test difficult.
We study a one-dimensional electron liquid coupled by a weak spin-exchange interaction to an antiferromagnetic spin-S ladder with n legs. A perturbative renormalization group analysis in the semiclassical limit reveals the opening of a spin gap, driven by the local magnetic correlations on the ladder. The effect, which we argue is present for any gapful ladder or gapless ladder with $nS\gg 1$, is enhanced by the repulsive interaction among the conduction electrons but is insensitive to the sign of the spin exchange interaction with the ladder. Possible implications for the striped phases of the cuprates are discussed.
We propose a simple model for reaction-diffusion systems with orientational constraints on the reactivity of particles, and map it onto a field theory with upper critical dimension d_c=2. To two-loop level the long-time particle density N(t) is given by the same universal expression as for a nonsteric system, with N(t)~t^{-d/2} for d<=2. For slow rotations of the particles we find an intermediate regime where N(t)~t^{-d/4}, with the crossover to the nonsteric asymptotics determined by the rates of rotations and reactions. Consequences for experiments are discussed.
We use bosonization methods to calculate the exact finite-temperature single-electron Green's function of a spinful Luttinger liquid confined by open boundaries. The corresponding local spectral density is constructed and analyzed in detail. The interplay between boundary, finite-size and thermal effects are shown to dramatically influence the low-energy properties of the system. In particular, the well-known zero-temperature critical behavior in the bulk always crosses over to a boundary dominated regime in the vicinity of the Fermi level. Thermal fluctuations cause an enhanced depletion of spectral weight for small energies E, with the spectral density scaling as E^2 for E much less than the temperature. Consequences for photoemission experiments are discussed.
The single electron Green's function of the one-dimensional Tomonaga-Luttinger model in the presence of open boundaries is calculated with bosonization methods. We show that the critical exponents of the local spectral density and of the momentum distribution change in the presence of a boundary. The well understood universal bulk behavior always crosses over to a boundary dominated regime for small energies or small momenta. We show this crossover explicitly for the large-U Hubbard model in the low-temperature limit. Consequences for photoemission experiments are discussed.
We give a brief review of the Kondo effect in a one-dimensional interacting electron system, and present exact results for the impurity thermodynamic response based on conformal field theory.
We study the low-temperature properties of a spin-\onehalf\ magnetic impurity coupled to a one-dimensional interacting electron system. Using the newly developed formalism by Affleck and Ludwig, with a scale invariant boundary condition replacing the impurity, we exploit boundary conformal field theory to deduce the impurity thermal and magnetic response. In the case of only forward electron scattering off the impurity, we predict the same critical scaling as for the two-channel Kondo effect for non-interacting electrons, but with a novel Wilson ratio. Backward electron scattering off the impurity destabilizes this behavior and drives the system to a new fixed point. In the case of equal amplitudes for forward- and backward scattering {\em (Kondo interaction)}, we show that there are only two types of scaling behaviors consistent with the symmetries of the problem: {\em either} a local Fermi liquid {\em or} a critical theory with an anomalous specific heat. The latter case agrees with a recent ``poor-man-scaling'' result proposed by Furusaki and Nagaosa.
We report on exact results for the low-temperature thermodynamics of a spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ magnetic impurity coupled to a one-dimensional interacting electron system. By using boundary conformal field theory, we show that there are only two types of critical behaviors consistent with the symmetries of the problem: {\em either} a local Fermi liquid, {\em or} a theory with an anomalous response identical to that recently proposed by Furusaki and Nagaosa. Suppression of back scattering off the impurity leads to the same critical properties as for the two-channel Kondo effect.